Ridgefield police close field fire investigation after town receives donations for fix (UPDATE)

The field fire at Governor Park in Ridgefield has created $40,000 in environmental damages. The money won’t be coming from taxpayers, according to First Selectman Rudy Marconi, but rather anonymous donations. Ridgefield police said Thursday, April 18, that the case is closed. — Alex Fischetti / Contributed photo

UPDATE, 3:35 p.m. — The Ridgefield Police Department has closed its investigation into who started the field fire at Governor Park without revealing any names of who was responsible for pouring gasoline and lighting it in attempt to make the field playable for the Ridgefield High School baseball team.

“The Ridgefield Police Department has closed its investigation into this incident due to the fact that compensation has been made for the damages,” Capt. Shawn Platt said Thursday in a release. “Town Officials no longer wish to press criminal charges. Anyone seeking further information may contact the Ridgefield Town Hall.”

Earlier in the day, The Press had reported that the $40,000 repair bill would not be covered by insurance. First Selectman Rudy Marconi said that the damage would be covered by private donations.

The donations were anonymous, and were coming to the town through a trustee account overseen by an attorney, Marconi told the Board of Selectmen Wednesday night.

“That’s all I’m at liberty to say,” he said.

Stephen J. Sedensky III, state’s attorney for the Judicial District of Danbury, told The Press Thursday morning that he believed the town was not pursuing criminal action claims because restitution had been made.

“From my understanding, the town is not interested in pursuing criminal action because there was a restitution,” he said.

The state’s attorney said restitution was a common practice in situations like the field fire in Ridgefield.

“We see restitutions made all the time,” he said.

When determining whether to prosecute somebody, he said his office looks at intent and behavior on a “case to case basis.”

“Our primary concern is that the victim is made whole,” Sedensky said. “The victim, in this case being the town, feels the necessary restitution was made…

“Sometimes restitutions come from the person involved in the behavior, sometimes it comes from other sources,” he added.